


A Trip to the Beach

by AchillesMonkey



Series: Child Fitz Fics [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Autism Spectrum, Autistic Character, Autistic Fitz, Gen, Leo Fitz loves monkeys, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, Meltdown, Nonverbal Communication, Sensory Processing Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 23:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14092173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AchillesMonkey/pseuds/AchillesMonkey
Summary: Leopold Fitz was 4-years-old and he was about to go to the beach for the very first time.Based on the prompt: Autistic Fitz goes to the beach for the first time





	A Trip to the Beach

Leopold Fitz was 4-years-old and he was about to go to the beach for the very first time. Mummy had told him all about it on the train ride to Largs. She’d told him about the sand, and the water, and how he’d be able to smell the salt water. There would be a lot of people there too, she said, since it was a sunny, warm day. 

She didn’t mention anything about the monkeys, though. Leo was very excited about seeing the monkeys. His  _ Encyclopaedia of Interesting Monkey Facts _ had a whole page about Monkey Beach and how friendly the monkeys were with humans. Leo knew he looked human, even though he was really a monkey, and he hoped the monkeys at Monkey Beach would be able to tell the truth. 

He held Mummy’s hand as they walked from the train station to the beach. Daddy was behind them carrying their bags. There were a lot of people around. He heard them talking and yelling to each other. He heard the sound of cars driving down the road, occasionally honking their horns. There were a lot of smells too. He wasn’t able to identify most of them, and that bothered him. Several of the smells were very stinky, and Leo wrinkled his nose in disgust. The sun was very bright and it was starting to hurt his skin. He closed his eyes, but then he tripped on the pavement. 

Mummy caught him before he could fall. “You need to keep your eyes open, love,” she said. Leo grunted unhappily in response. “Alistair, can you hand me Leo’s sunglasses, please.” 

Leo heard Daddy sigh, but soon Mummy was putting something on his face and behind his ears. Leo really didn’t like how the sunglasses pressed painfully on the bridge of his nose, but since they instantly made the world darker and easier to see, he didn’t complain. 

“Oh look, we can see the Pencil from here!” Mummy announced. “Do you see it, Leo?” Leo looked to where Mummy was pointing. That Pencil looked much larger than any other pencil Leo had seen. It didn’t look practical for writing at all.

They kept walking, and finally, after what felt like forever, they reached the beach. It was just like Mummy had described: sand, water, the smell of salt, a lot of people. But there were no monkeys that Leo could see. He looked all around as they walked to an empty patch of sand, but there were no monkeys. Maybe they were hiding? Or sleeping? Or maybe the monkeys looked human like him? But his book had shown pictures of monkey-looking monkeys at Monkey Beach.

“Leo, come here,” Mummy said. “I need to put suncream on you.” Leo let out a short scream.  _ Where are the monkeys? _ “You have to wear the suncream, Leo. You don’t want a sunburn, do you?”

Mummy squirted the suncream into her hand from a bottle and rubbed her hands together before grabbing Leo’s arm and rubbing the suncream in. Leo screamed, ripped the sunglasses off his face, and threw them to the ground. He yanked his arm from Mummy and dropped to the sand, screaming.  _ Where are the monkeys? _

“Leopold,” Mummy said as she started rubbing the suncream on him again. “Hush now. You’re okay.” 

“Quiet, Leopold!” Daddy ordered when Leo didn’t stop screaming. When Leo didn’t listen, Daddy sighed and told Mummy, “I can’t do this.”

“Alistair, don’t—” Mummy called out, but Daddy was already walking away and didn’t turn around.

Mummy sighed and finished putting the suncream on Leo as best as she could while he was screaming and fighting her. She pulled him into her lap when she was done, hugging him tightly. “There now, love, it’s all done. You’re okay. You’re okay.” Leo smiled at her, exposing his teeth. “I know you didn’t like that, but it’s over now. Do you want to look at your book?”

Leo closed his mouth as Mummy pulled his  _ Encyclopaedia of Interesting Monkey Facts _ out of their bag. As soon as he could reach it, he grabbed it from her and began flipping through the pages until he came to the one about Monkey Beach.

“Monkey Beach,” Mummy read. Leo pointed at the pictures of the monkeys on the sand and in the water. “Oh, love, did you think there would be monkeys at the beach today?” Leo signed the word monkey in response. “This beach is in Thailand, Leo, which is very far away from Scotland. Only that beach has monkeys, not every beach.” Leo tapped the pictures and signed monkey. “I’m afraid we can’t go to that beach, Leo. It would cost too much money. But we can go see the monkeys in the zoo. What do you think about that?” Leo signed monkey and flapped his hands. “Okay,” Mummy said. She pressed a kiss to the top of Leo’s head. “We’ll plan a trip for your birthday next month.”

Mummy was reading the chapter on capuchins to Leo when Daddy appeared, holding three partially melted ice cream cones. “Sorry,” he said to Mummy as he handed over one of the cones. “I just couldn’t handle the screaming and stares.” He held out a cone to Leo. “Leo, have an ice cream. I got you strawberry. You like strawberries.”

Leo did like strawberries, but this ice cream Daddy had looked nothing like a strawberry. Besides, his book didn’t say anything about monkeys eating ice cream. Monkeys ate fruit, and leaves, and eggs, and bugs. 

“Just try it, boy,” Daddy told him as he put the ice cream by Leo’s mouth. 

Leo opened his mouth to scream, but Daddy stuck the ice cream in before he could. It was cold. Too cold. And it wasn’t anything like a strawberry at all. Leo shrieked and lashed out, knocking the ice cream out of Daddy’s hand.

Daddy swore and glared at Leo. “Christ, what kind of kid doesn’t like ice cream?”

“He’s just very picky.” Mummy tried to defend him.

Daddy shook his head. “It’s not normal.”

“Thank you for trying, Alistair.”

Daddy nodded and finished his ice cream. “Do you think he’ll fight us if we try to get him in the water?” he asked Mummy.

“I’m not sure,” Mummy answered. “He loves bath time at home.”

Daddy squatted down in front of Leo, who was still sitting in Mummy’s lap. “Leo.” Leo didn’t respond. Daddy pulled his book out of his hands. “Leo, let’s go play in the water.” Leo growled and reached for his book, but Daddy moved it out of his reach. “You can look at your book after.”

“Go on, love,” Mummy encouraged. She took his shoes off before lifting him out of her lap to stand in front of her. “You’ll have so much fun with Daddy.”

Daddy took Leo’s hand and led him through the various beach-goers down the water. Leo eyes it suspiciously as it moved toward him and then away again. “Come on,” Daddy said, tugging at Leo’s hand to get him to move. “It’s fun, isn’t it?” Leo grunted in disagreement. It was not fun. It was cold. He turned and looked back at the beach where his book was. Mummy waved at him. A wave hit his legs and Leo shivered. “Once you get in further, you’ll get used to it,” Daddy said. 

Another wave hit his legs. Leo let out a short scream and tried to pull his hand out of Daddy’s grasp so he could run back to Mummy and his book, but Daddy wouldn’t let go. Daddy only let go when Leo started to bite him. The man swore as Leo ran to where Mummy was waiting with a towel. 

Daddy followed Leo back to their spot on the sand, not stopping as he told Mummy, “I’m going to find a pub.” Mummy wrapped Leo up in a towel as they watched Daddy walk away.

“Home?” Leo asked Mummy.

“Soon, love,” Mummy promised. She pulled him onto her lap for a cuddle. “Do you like anything about the beach, love?” she asked. Leo flipped through his book to the page about Monkey Beach and pointed to the pictures. “Yes, I know you would like to visit that beach. Maybe one day you will. For now, we’ll just go see the monkeys at the zoo.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and for any kudos/comments!!! This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
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**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Trip to Monkey Beach](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14252391) by [AchillesMonkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AchillesMonkey/pseuds/AchillesMonkey)




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